As reported by the Thoroughbred Times on Wednesday, the only winner of the UAE Triple Crown (2007), Asiatic Boy is being considered for a return to the races on June 13 in the Stephen Foster Handicap (G1) at Churchill Downs. After finishing second behind Curlin in the 2008 Dubai World Cup (G1), the son of Not for Sale was third in his 2009 comeback run behind My Indy and Happy Boy in the second round of the Maktoum Challenge (G3). That was followed by a narrow win over Happy Boy in the third round of the Challenge.
This year’s Dubai World Cup was a different story as the former Mike De Kock trainee came home a distant twelfth following a slow start and a somewhat impeded trip. Now with Kiaran McLaughin, Asiatic Boy has had two solid workouts at his new home track, Belmont Park. Asiatic Boy has 15 lifetime starts with seven wins and earning in excess of $3,000,000.
Click HERE for the original article from the Thoroughbred Times.
Should Asiatic Boy make the Stephen Foster, he is likely to tussle with 7-year-old Einstein, the recent winner of the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (G1) at Churchill Downs, part of the Kentucky Derby undercard. Trained by Curlin’s original trainer, Helen Pitts-Blasi, Einstein is quite possibly the top all-surface older horse running in America. A win in the Stephen Foster would make Einstein only the second horse in history to have landed Grade 1 wins on dirt, turf, and synthetic surfaces.
Samantha Siegel of Jay Em Ess Stables reported this week that Arson Squad, eleventh in the 2009 Dubai World Cup, is expected to make his return in the Stephen Foster.